Dwight D. Eisenhower, 34th president of the United States, exits the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace on Oct. 27, 1960. / Courtesy of Charles Culbertson

Written by

Charles Culbertson

Contributor

On Oct. 27, 1960, thousands of people ignored a nearly continuous downpour to see the man who had overseen victory against Nazi Germany and now headed the globe’s greatest republic — U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower.

Eisenhower had accepted an invitation by the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation to visit Staunton, tour the birthplace and make a public address. The idea to invite him had grown out of his oft-stated desire to visit the 1862 birthplace of his mother — Elizabeth Ida Stover — near Fort Defiance. Eisenhower had wanted to come to the area as early as 1956, but illness had prevented him.

Preparations for the visit included the mobilization of 1,200 National Guardsmen of the 116th Infantry — one of the units Eisenhower had ordered to storm Nazi-occupied France on June 6, 1944.

At 11:20 a.m., a four-engine airplane carrying Eisenhower appeared in the stormy sky. A military band struck up the tune, “Love Me Tenderly,” and eight minutes later the aircraft landed.

As Eisenhower’s plane taxied the runway, he was greeted by a 21-gun salute and the cheers of 4,000 spectators. Minutes later, Eisenhower briskly emerged, followed by Secret Service agents.

He was greeted by Gov. James Almond; Senators Harry F. Byrd Jr. and A. Willis Robertson; Staunton Mayor Thomas E. Hassett Jr.; MBC’s Dr. Samuel Spencer; Mrs. Herbert McKeldon Smith, president of the Woodrow Wilson Birthplace Foundation; Charles Blackley; and Col. Archibald A. Sproul of the Virginia National Guard – one of the men who had fought at Omaha Beach on D-Day.

The president then conducted an inspection of the 82-man Honor Guard, accompanied by Sproul, while the band played “The Star Spangled Banner.”

Eisenhower told Sproul, “I feel like I’m with my boys again.”

At the Stover property in Fort Defiance, Eisenhower remarked that the white frame structure reminded him of his own birthplace at Denison, Texas. After he saw the bedroom in which his mother had been born, Eisenhower went outside and planted a “Liberty Tree” in the front yard.

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Shortly after noon, “Ike” swung by Augusta Military Academy where his uncle, J. Worth Stover, had been a cadet from 1866 to 1872. He was received by the cadet corps in formation on the parade grounds, while the school’s 60-piece band played martial airs. Eisenhower’s motorcade swept around the Academy’s circular drive and then back onto U.S. 11 for the final push to Staunton.

He arrived in the city to an estimated 25,000 people, who had begun lining the streets as early as 8 a.m. Eisenhower’s car made its way to the Wilson birthplace where Sproul extended the city’s official greeting.

Eisenhower’s guides were a birthplace hostess and a woman who — like so much on Eisenhower’s visit — represented elements of his past. She was Mrs. Alexander M. Patch, widow of the general who had not only served as superintendent of Staunton Military Academy, but who had also commanded the Seventh Army under Eisenhower in World War II.

At about 1:30 p.m., Eisenhower found himself standing at a podium on the front portico of Mary Baldwin College’s main building and looking out on some 5,000 people who had gathered there to hear him.

While he was not expected to make a political speech, Eisenhower couldn’t resist articulating his philosophy of limited government and greater personal responsibility. Deftly, he did so while paying homage to a former president who, more than any previous chief executive, had increased the power of the federal government.

Eisenhower quoted Wilson — “We are certified by all political history that centralization is not vitalization” — and followed up by observing:

“Today we know the wisdom of this principle…Yet we are beseeched on all fronts to deposit more and more functions and authority in the hands of central government…The net result is to diminish further the freedom that flourishes best where responsibility is held and authority is exercised — close to home.”

Following the 30-minute address, Eisenhower attended a luncheon at MBC and then made a brief visit to Staunton Military Academy. At Northside School, he boarded a helicopter that took him back to the airport at Weyers Cave.

But “Ike” was to make one more trip to Staunton.

Eisenhower left office in January 1961 and died in March 1969. His body was placed aboard a C&O train headed for burial in Abilene, Kan. The train passed slowly through many railway stations along the route so that people could pay their last respects; one of those was the C&O station in Staunton.

As they had almost nine years earlier, the people of Staunton turned out in force to pay homage to the war hero and U.S. president. Some 3,000 people waited in freezing temperatures on March 31 to see the train, which rolled into the station at 11:10 p.m.

Men removed their hats. Others saluted. Heads were bowed.

Fittingly, Eisenhower’s final journey took him to within 10 miles of the birthplace of his mother, a place he had seen only once — on the day he came to Staunton.